Wyclef Jean took three young amputees on shopping sprees of $1,000 each after flying them to the US.

As they arrived in New York, 17-year-olds Margarette Pierre and Chantal Mori each lost an arm, while 8-year-old Farah Maurice, had her leg amputated.

On Tuesday, Wyclelf took them to Kmart to pick out whatever they would like.

"When you come from a country where you make $1 a day, giving them $1,000 is like giving them $10,000," said Jean. "They need to know there are people like them and they're normal. Today they're not thinking, 'I don't have a leg.' They're just being kids and they're happy."

The trip for the children were sponsored by Wyclef's charity Yele Haiti and the Global Medical Relief Fund. The girls will head to Philadelphia in June to undergo complimentary treatment for their prosthetic limbs at Shriners Hospitals for Children.

Re: boxergal – Yes, there are American kids that need help…what are YOU doing for them? Are you donating to help the less fortuate in America? Are you spending your time caring for them or takig them shopping for things they cannot afford? How selfish of you to think that just because he is an American he should take care of his country and his country only. There are many places in the world that need help, that are less fortunate than America. What are YOU doing to help to help these American children? I live in Maryland and donate to several American AND oveaseas charities. I have no beef with someone helping out someone less fortunate b/c of their location in the world.

Re: boxergal – Also, OUR OWN?? Really?! Americans are different thank the rest of humanity? We are ALL human with the same NEEDS no matter where you live in this world . OUR OWN is all of the world, no matter where you live!

Wyclef Jean's BOGUS Charity -
JANUARY 14–The Haiti earthquake has already triggered hundreds of thousands of donations to musician Wyclef Jean's charitable foundation, which expects to raise upwards of $1 million a day in the disaster's wake. However, Internal Revenue Service records show the group has a lackluster history of accounting for its finances, and that the organization has paid the performer and his business partner at least $410,000 for rent, production services, and Jean's appearance at a benefit concert. Though the Wyclef Jean Foundation, which does business as Yele Haiti Foundation, was incorporated 12 years ago–and has been active since that time–the group only first filed tax returns in August 2009.

Wyclef Jean’s BOGUS Charity Part 2 –
Musician Wyclef Jean's charitable foundation–now the recipient of many donations big and small in the wake of the Haiti earthquake–has repeatedly had its corporate status dissolved for failing to file required state disclosure reports, records show. As seen below, the Florida Division of Corporations has, on four separate occasions over the past five years, sanctioned the Yele Haiti Foundation (the charity was incorporated in Florida in 1998 as the Wyclef Jean Foundation, but formally changed its name two months ago). The longest involuntarily dissolution lasted 26 months, ending in November 2008 when Jean's organization provided Florida officials with overdue annual reports disclosing the identities of the group's officers and directors, its registered agent, and office address.

Wyclef Jean’s BOGUS Charity Part 3 –
During a briefly teary defense of himself yesterday, Wyclef Jean again reminded listeners that he spent a couple of days in Haiti "carrying dead bodies on the street." If anyone had missed his tweets, Jean added, "I was the one carrying little girls to the morgue."The musician also asserted that he had never used any of his charitable foundation's funds for his personal benefit, but declined to entertain questions about the $410,000 that went to him and his cousin/business partner for rent, production services, and the star's appearance at a benefit concert. Jean explained that he was "told not to address" those sticky questions, presumably by spokesman Ken Sunshine, who usually spends his day handling tabloid inquiries about the love lives of clients like Leonardo DiCaprio and Justin Timberlake

Wyclef Jean’s BOGUS Charity Part 3 (cont) –
Jean left the task of answering questions about his checkbook to Hugh Locke, a consultant who was identified as president of the Yele Haiti Foundation, which was originally incorporated as the Wyclef Jean Foundation in 1998.Jean had long fled the podium by the time Locke acknowledged that the years-late filing of the group's tax returns was a "mistake." The payment of $100,000 to a firm owned by Jean and relative Jerry Duplessis (for a Jean concert performance) "was not our finest hour," said Locke, who promised that the group would be "more appropriate" in the future.Locke's mea culpas, though, did little to explain Jean's unique way of doling out foundation funds to himself. For example:

Wyclef Jean’s BOGUS Charity Part 3 (cont) – Locke yesterday claimed that the $100,000 paid to a Jean company for his performance at a fundraiser included expenses associated with that gig (like "background musicians" and "backline" costs). Locke had previously told the Associated Press that Jean had only pocketed $25,000, with the $75,000 balance going to pay for "backup singers." Jean, though, has toured with a single female backup singer, most recently his sister Melky (who founded her own Haiti charity, the Carma Foundation, in January 2008). "I'm not saying he didn't benefit from it," said Locke, who has sought to minimize the singer's windfall. Locke has also avoided mentioning that the foundation's own 2006 IRS return (which was filed 28 months late) includes a separate line item accounting for $97,808 in "direct expenses" associated with that benefit in Monaco. The tax return makes it clear that the $100,000 Jean cleared was specifically paid "for the musical performance service of Wyclef Jean."

Wyclef Jean’s BOGUS Charity Part 3 (cont) – While the musician chose to bank $100,000 in foundation funds for a single performance, the group's tax return asserts that the fee was "substantially less than market value." This claim–that Jean and his partner provided discounted rates on office space, booking fees, and $250,000 in television production services–is supported by, well, nothing. Ditto Jean's claim that he put $1 million of his own money into the charity. Jean, who noted yesterday that the peak of his career came in 1996 when he was a member of the Fugees, is not a big concert draw. In early-2008, during his 24-date "Carnival House Tour," Jean and his five bandmates played in clubs averaging about 1000 seats, a large dropoff from the days when he played significantly larger venues.

Wyclef Jean’s BOGUS Charity Part 3 (cont) – In light of the assertion by Jean's representatives that the distribution of funds to a foundation's board member was a routine occurrence, TSG conducted a comparison of the business practices of Jean's group with those of 40 not-for-profit groups founded or closely affiliated with celebrities. Like Jean's foundation, each of the 40 groups has filed tax returns detailing their income and expenses, records that are available for examination/downloading on guidestar.org, the leading online clearinghouse for information on non-profit groups. In most cases, the site offers the last three IRS returns filed by an organization.
A review of these tax returns shows that not one of the 40 organizations has paid a penny to a celebrity for any service rendered–even at a discounted rate–for the group.

You ppl are bashing a man for taking children shopping? thats really nice of him to take them on a shopping spree.he DIDNT have to. k-mart is a good place because the prices are very reasonable and they can get A LOT with $1000.00. keep in mind there are other children in Haiti. If you have nothing nice to say then dont say it.

actually yes I do a lot for children in our country everyday. I donate to charities, do a lot of volunteer work for low income children , doing dance , arts, music, our group does a lot for them thanks for asking, now go back to patting yourself on the back.

THATS IT?! $3000?! 3 KIDS?! YOU PROUD OF THAT?! WHAT ABOUT THE MANY OTHERS?! SOME CHEAP ADVERTISEMENT WYCLEF, YOU SPENT $3000 AND TALK ABOUT IT LIKE YOU SOME KIND OF SAINT!! I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU DO MORE ASSHOLE!! HOLLYWOOD NEEDS TO LEARN AS WELL!!

Re: Sir-Bangs-Alot – just curious, how much do you (and the others saying he should have gave more) donate? Also, he is a native to Haiti, so those saying he needs to do things here for "his own", that's exactly what he is doing, helping his own. Besides the lower class here in the US has MANY more resources than less fortunate in third world countries.

Enough about Wyclef and whether or not it was a good or stupid thing…Those kids mustve been soooo happy anyways. I hope they had a good time just being kids like he said. To be so young and lose a limb is devastating. They need to be reminded that they are still kids and deserve happiness.

wow….that must have been one hell of a flight……"As they arrived in New York, 17-year-olds Margarette Pierre and Chantal Mori each lost an arm, while 8-year-old Farah Maurice, had her leg amputated." Terrific example of your grammar.